RISMedia's Real Estate Magazine

JUL 2018

Real Estate magazine is the industry's leading source for real estate news and information since 1980. Published monthly by RISMedia, Real Estate magazine offers timely and relevant real estate news to the industry's top brokers and agents.

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94 July 2018 RISMedia's REAL ESTATE
one of our strategic objectives for
some time, and Notarize has helped
tackle the legal and technical barri-
ers to help make the digital real es-
tate transaction a reality. Realogy's
investment in Notarize positions us
at the forefront of change as the in-
dustry takes a step toward making
buy-sell transactions, refinancing a
home or executing a lease 100-per-
cent digital."
"We believe that remote notariza-
tion will provide a timely and distinct
advantage for today's mobile buyers
and sellers and for military stationed
abroad," adds Casey. "The enthusi-
asm for the technology is company-
wide."
"We expect this online option will
provide security and technical flex-
ibility to our customers, who would
no longer have to find babysitters or
take time off from work to sign before
a notary," says Scott McCall, CEO of
Title Resources (TRG's Underwriter).
"We are excited to continue to move
toward modernizing the closing pro-
cess and bringing the chore of sign-
ing paperwork into the 21st century."
"From a title perspective, it's a
great tool for people with daytime
conflicts," Casey explains. "They can
come to the virtual closing table long
after business hours or even while
they are traveling."
The electronic option brings state-
of-the-art efficiency to the traditional
real estate transaction and helps
eliminate potential failure points, ex-
plains Gorman.
"It has long been a logistical chal-
lenge—and a pain point for buyers
and sellers—to have to drop every-
thing, drive to an office and sit before
that notary to sign real estate-related
documents," says Gorman. "We are
always looking for innovative tech-
nologies, such as those offered by
Notarize, to make the home-buying
and -selling process seamless."
Realogy mortgage partner Nik
Athanasiou, COO of Guaranteed
Rate Affinity (GRA), is glad to see the
practice gaining momentum.
"There is no question that remote
notarization puts the customer in the
driver's seat," he says. "It stream-
lines the mortgage process, elimi-
nating the need for overnight mail
service, fax or hand-carried paper-
work—and provides absolute trans-
parency because customers input
their own information at the time and
place that works best for them."
Government entities will also ben-
efit in this further digitization and
streamlining of the real estate trans-
action. "Freddie Mac is proud to be
one of the early pioneers to accept
electronic loan documents," says
Sam Oliver, vice president of Major
Project Execution for the Single-Fam-
ily Business at Freddie Mac. "We're
excited to continue working with No-
tarize to make 100-percent online e-
closings a reality. Their partnership
with Realogy and Freddie Mac via
Guaranteed Rate Affinity will provide
a more convenient, secure and end-
to-end solution for borrowers today."
The rapid acceptance of remote
notarization comes as no surprise to
Adam Pase, co-founder and COO of
Notarize.
"We are taking a historic process
into the present," says Pase. "So
much of the real estate transac-
tion has been conducted the same
way for decades, but customers are
expecting a new experience that
empowers them on their terms,
"Moving toward a
full digital closing
has been one of our
strategic objectives for
some time, and Notarize
has helped tackle the
legal and technical
barriers to help make
the digital real estate
transaction a reality."
- DON CASEY
President and CEO,
Title Resource Group (TRG)
(Left to Right) Nikolaos Athanasiou,
chief operating officer, Guaranteed
Rate Affinity; Don Casey, president
and CEO, TRG; and Walter Mullen,
chief strategy officer, TRG